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PAINTING·WHITE DWARF 509

Painting the Sons of Horus

February 2025·p. 89

THE SHORT VERSION

Rob’s army-wide painting approach avoids mixing colours to keep a large collection consistent and efficient. A grey undercoat and layered airbrushed greens create vibrant armour before a recess wash, edge highlights and small stippled chips define the panels. The accompanying recipes extend the palette to red armour, hazard stripes, blue-black weapon casings and two gold finishes, allowing details to vary without losing the force’s visual unity.

AT THE PAINTING DESK

Paints in this article

Every named colour below is searchable across the archive.

Mechanicus Standard GreyKabalite GreenSybarite GreenSybarite Green AirCoelia GreenshadeGauss Blaster GreenDryad BarkAverland SunsetYriel YellowMournfang BrownWord Bearers RedEvil Sunz ScarletCarroburg CrimsonTroll Slayer OrangeWraithboneCorvus BlackThunderhawk BlueAbaddon BlackFenrisian BlueAdministratum GreyBalthasar GoldAgrax EarthshadeGehenna’s GoldAuric Armour GoldStormhost SteelRunelord BrassIron WarriorsStormhost Silver

Paint names are transcribed from the text and recipe. The gold recipe literally prints “Stormhost Steel”; this apparent source typo is preserved rather than silently corrected. Sybarite Green Air is the named discontinued formulation.

EXPLORE RELATED TOPICS

Airbrushing Army painting Painting techniques Weathering

Back to the original

Find this article in White Dwarf 509, p. 89.

This is an original summary. Refer to your magazine for the complete article, rules, images and painting steps.

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PaintingWD 509 · p. 7

Model of the Month: Norn Emissary

Marcin Kamiński turns a hornet spotted near his beehives into the starting point for a Tyranid colour scheme: yellow and red carapace, complementary purple flesh and turquoise psychic details. His process begins with a black-to-grey zenithal undercoat, then combines thinned Contrast mixtures and drybrushed highlights to create controlled gradients without making the creature a literal insect copy.

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PaintingWD 509 · pp. 68–73

Brush Tips: Death Korps of Krieg

Drew and Aidan explain how the ’Eavy Metal team made the Death Korps darker and more desaturated than the earlier Veteran Guardsmen, using blue-grey cloth, restrained metal and warm leather to preserve a tight palette. Glazed weathering links soldiers and artillery to churned muddy bases, while pale, sickly skin makes the vat-grown cavalry steeds look unsettling. Detailed recipes cover uniforms, equipment, mounts, guns, screens and weathering.

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ShowcaseWD 509 · pp. 84–91

Sons of Cthonia

Rob Higgins recounts the experiments and setbacks that led to his award-winning Sons of Horus. A salmon-pink weathered Luna Wolves attempt and a subdued Ogryn army convinced him to seek stronger colour and a repeatable process for a large force. His collection centres on Reavers, includes halved black-and-green Destroyers and a converted volkite Sicaran, and expands through event lists such as a Thunderhawk-themed force. Friends and lockdown painting helped turn an ambitious plan into a substantial army.

The Horus HeresySons of Horus
February 2025Read summary